Details are again sketchy. The official U.S. media is avoiding this like the plague. Huffington post had an article with 6 victims. But, it appears the reality is far worse. Reuters reports 34 of the initial 41 hostages have been killed, and U.K. Daily Mail says up to 35 of the hostages killed.

Reports late last night from French Media were that the hostages had been outfitted with explosive, suicide type, bomb belts/vests. Prayers for all the families of the victims. Here are a couple of latest reports.

(Daily Mail)Two British workers were reported tonight to be among the dead following a botched Algerian military raid to free hostages at a desert gas plant.

He told Reuters that among the dead hostages were eight Algerians, two Japanese, two Britons and one French national. The nationalities of the other dead were not clear.

Algerian state television quoted a hospital as saying four foreigners had been killed and seven wounded amid a confused picture of the crisis.

The report came shortly after Prime Minister David Cameron said the country should be ‘prepared for the possibility of further bad news’ and multiple deaths after Algeria’s botched rescue of oil workers in the Sahara.

A backlash among Western governments was growing against Algeria after it took the extraordinary decision to act alone – and kept Britain in the dark about the dangerous rescue mission it was attempting.

The botched action took place as an unarmed American surveillance drone soared overhead – yet the Algerian government had refused offers of help from America and Britain’s crack special forces as they tried to overcome one of the biggest kidnappings ever seen in Africa.

Algerian forces strafed the Saharan gas plant with helicopter fire today hours after rebels threatened to detonate explosives attached to the hostages if they were attacked.

The Algerian government says the army was forced to intervene due to the militants’ stubbornness and their desire to escape with the hostages.

Islamic extremists launched the attack in revenge for France’s crackdown on rebels in neighbouring Mali. Britain is providing non-combat role support and so became a target.

President Hollande has defended the action, stating: ‘What’s happening in Algeria provides further evidence that my decision to intervene in Mali was justified.’ […]

According to Mauritania’s ANI news agency, seven western hostages were still alive – three Belgians, two Americans, one Japanese and one Briton.

A spokesman for the Masked Brigade, which had earlier claimed responsibility for the assault said Abou El Baraa, the leader of the kidnappers, was also killed.

The information came from the Nouakchott Information Agency, which has often carried reports from al-Qaeda-linked extremist groups.

The militant spokesman said the kidnappers were attacked by Algerian helicopters when they attempted to leave the complex. (read more)

As I said earlier, they are getting wise to Western tactics. They are reactionary and proactive – note they bobby-trapped the captives and most likely rigged them to be command-detonated were a rescue attempt made – much as the Chechnyan Beslan school massacre. Speaking of why we need armed guards in US schools, though Obama won’t talk about it (3 guesses why) there have not been any incidents like Beslan in the US – yet. Wanna bet that some of the ALLEGED Islamic cells in the US have seen how utterly frantic we are over our school children? Wanna bet that the Beslan scenario isn’t on their Things-To-Do list, especially as the progs work overtime dismissing the idea of armed school guards? I know one police rank who’s been pushing the possibility of a Beslan scenario here since the original incident and everyone from the city government to the school board pooh-poohs the idea.

The leadership of AQIM and AQAP is selling the sheeple jihadi the story of this being a modern version of the “Christian Crusades”….. It’s working to drum up volunteers and support for their cause….. As of right now I do not see a single action by the West that is successful in countering this narrative.

Things are only going to get worse. I’ll bet the al-Shabab elements in Mexico are plotting as we speak……

Charles Krauthammer on Fox right now, Neither was a British the Americans are the Japanese informed Until after the fact, It may be the point of the French we’re not going to wait a year and a half well hostages were held.
The French with their history in Algeria prepare to fight a war of attrition. Charles giving it mixed reviews because at least the French were trying to do something.
Hillary beast telling us that the enemy is at the gate really

Interesting point. If you map the considerable Muslim population in Mexico (mostly done by counting Mosques et al) the overwhelming majority are in the ‘counties/states’ surrounding Mexico city with two outliers, one on the coast and another on the southern border. I’d look more to the Tri-Border Area in southern Brazil where the roll-call of Muslim terror agencies has had a major community for decades and its connections with Mexican Muslims and other Muslim groups throughout an active Latin America. I was in Guatemala a few years back and my driver pointed out to me a high-walled, armed and fortified house/compound right on a main drag that was a Muslim enclave – and that’s all he’d say about it.. Then again, there are privacy issues and they are due their expectations of such, as they had on September 10th.

We already know they have an operational reach into the U.S. due to the attempted Saudi Ambassador assassination last year in Washington DC. Multiple 2010/2011 reports had them using training camps in Mexico…. Then when you combine the Libyan SAAM’s being looted, and Al Shabab seen with them by Chad’s President en route to the coast…. Well… you can see where this could be headed.

That entire “search for Kony” schtick last year was just cover (IMHO)…..

AQAP is busy with the Arab Spring…. Egypt, Libya, now Syria et al… While AQIM is coordinating with al-shabab.

We know with specific certainty that ayman al Zawahiri (AQAP) was specifically using a courier to talk to his brother Muhamed in Egypt. Personally I believe Ayman is heading AQAP and Muhamed is coordinating N Africa with AQIM. But that’s just a hunch.

They tend to interact to some extent but not too deeply for opsec reasons. The various well-intrenched bad guys in the Tri-Border Area have been there soooooo long that they the Paraguayan, Brazilian and Argentinian military and police don’t want to go in there. I’d make an educated guess that weapons flow into and around there as easily as money and drugs do so bad guys working here should be able to easily have shipments come from there. From whom we’ve seen visiting there I do believe that it’s a safe zone where just about any Islamic terrorist group can get a room for the night as long as they do not interfere with the area’s internal workings. Think of it as Disneyland for bad guys with Minnie in a burqa.

They ain’t at the gate, they are in the &*^%$ living room. Point: Federal LEA was looking at an AQ cell in Missouri just after 911. Now, with Hamas admittedly drawing the majority of its operating funds from its US sources BEFORE 911 and the FBI tapping Hez bros well before 911 – let’s recalculate how close who is to where.

As a Muslim I wish we had some Western leadership, too.
I am also disgusted what they have done to these innocents in the name of God (God is claiming those clowns dont speak for God).
My prayers are for the hostages, their families & friends, and for Justice (may God punish the hostage takers in this life and in the next).

There’s a reason why the saying “it sucks to be a hostage” is common amongst those who train for and perform hostage rescues. If the terrorists are willing to die and have access to even the most basic of weaponry, it’s almost impossible to prevent them from killing the hostages.

I am hoping that the Jihadi violence will become even more severe son as to force people to acknowledge that Obama is a malignant moron. The irony is that if there is a mass casualty event, the target will inevitably be urban so most of the victims will be idiots who voted for Obama.